– Charlie's Blog –

Rural Tennessee by Melissa Johnson

New Stage Musical: True North

by | Dec 18, 2021 | ,

Over the spring and summer, I wrote a musical that’s a departure from my earlier stage work. Set in Tennessee, True North a sort of fairy tale, not based on any historical event (though World War II makes a brief appearance). The show is still in a very early stage of development, so I decided to bring some singers into the studio so that I could hear how the songs were working. Thanks to the skill and talent of seven wonderful singers—Alan Naylor, Jennifer Timberlake, Valerie Rigsbee, Abby Middleton, Chris Rios, Chelsea Majors and Rich Follett—I was able to hear ten of the songs performed beautifully. You can hear a few of these songs on my Soundcloud page.

New Work: Rhapsody for Piano and Strings

New Work: Rhapsody for Piano and Strings

by | Nov 1, 2021 | ,

My primary instrument is piano, but it’s by far the hardest instrument for me to write music for. Maybe that’s because I find constructing piano parts in the Sibelius software to be clunky and awkward. Or maybe it’s because I’m a jazz pianist at heart, and I hate the idea of being strapped into only one way of playing a musical thought. Still, earlier this year I was honored to accept a commission from the National String Symphonia to write a rhapsody for piano, strings, and harp. It was a challenge, but I’m pleased with how it came out—and pleased that I won’t be expected to perform the work myself. NSS conductor David Fanning, who is a gifted pianist, will do the honors when Rhapsody for Piano and Strings is premiered in the fall of 2022. You can hear a synth version of this piece on my website.

Katie Ganem album Smart

New Album: Smart

by | Oct 1, 2021 | ,

Working with the singer and actress Katie Ganem is a true pleasure. As the star of 19: The Musical, she brought the prickly character of Alice Paul to full and vibrant life on stage. Next, Katie brought her director’s chops to bear on my one-man show, which resulted in the album Charlie Barnett: All by His Own Self. When Katie called me earlier this year to ask if I would be interested in working with her on an album project, I instantly said yes—and that was even before I knew that her idea was to record an album of songs I wrote. The title cut, “Smart,” was written just for her. You can buy the album on Amazon.

A Word on Orchestration

by | Jun 16, 2021 | , ,

I have finished two musicals over the past three years. Of course “finished” is an expedient word that really means, “We’ve stopped changing it…for now.” Musical theater is a collaborative medium, and there are many tasks still to come in the course of getting either of these pieces up on a stage with costumes, sets, lighting and a pit band. Usually, a composer will hand off the orchestration of his songs to a specialist in the art, but for these two shows, I couldn’t bear to. I had to do it myself. To me, the songs aren’t a full artistic statement unless I can have a hand in constructing the final ensemble sound. If you’re curious to hear a few of the final orchestrations for the shows, you can find them at these websites: 19: The Musical, a show about women gaining the right to vote, and When We Get There, a show about a fateful car trip to Selma, Alabama.

Out Under The Sky by Chaise Lounge

My Genre-Bending Band

by | May 30, 2021 | , ,

I am pleased and a little surprised to report that Out Under the Sky, the newest CD from my jazz band, Chaise Lounge, made it to number 9 on a national folk music chart. Folk? you say. That’s what I said! But when I thought about it, it made sense. The band has embraced a lot of musical styles that are pretty far afield from our original “1960’s jazz” mission statement. This album has a traditional Appalachian Christmas carol on it, along with a folksy original called “Clean White Snow” and a few roots numbers. I have always struggled to define the music of Chaise Lounge. Maybe it is “folk music that swings.”

Invisible Warriors by Gina Cooke

The Forgotten Home Front

by | May 1, 2021 | , ,

I recently finished scoring a doc called Invisible Warriors for the director Gregory Cooke. This film has been a 12-year labor of love for him—the story of Black “Rosie the Riveters,” including his own mother, who joined factory lines during World War II, but whose inspiring stories were not as heralded as those of other Rosies. With little documentation or archival footage of these women, it was a nearly impossible film to put together, but Gregory somehow managed it: The movie had a virtual premiere in March, and there has been a lot of interest from streaming services. The poster for the film, created by art director Gina Cooke, is a portrait of Ruth Wilson, who worked at the Philadelphia Navy Yard during the war and helped build the aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Valley Forge. Ms Wilson recently turned 99. I am rooting for this film and its indefatigable director. It’s time for Ms Wilson and her fellow Rosies to get their due.

Neptune

Neptune!

by | Apr 8, 2021 | , ,

This is the star of today’s recording session.  My Neptune baritone guitar. I only use this about twice a year, but it is the only way to get that perfect spaghetti Western sound that we all love. Write your piece in B minor, add tremolo, and you’re there.

The Secret Shopkeeper

by | Mar 2, 2021 | , ,

If you order a Chaise Lounge CD from Amazon or another big retailer, you’ll receive it from a warehouse somewhere. But people who don’t make and sell records for a living are often surprised to learn that the CDs and merch they order via the band’s online store are packed and shipped by yours truly, from a “warehouse” that doubles as my basement. If you also sell your group’s recordings, you can probably picture the shelves and boxes.
Selling CDs is a joy for me. It’s my favorite chore. I love filling orders for fans we have known for years, but I also love it when the buyer has an unfamiliar name. How did they hear of us? Are we in heavy rotation in Muncie this week? I always write a note on the outside of the padded envelope. We jokingly call our fans “Chaise Lounge Nation” and say it’s a small nation, but mighty. Each time I send off a note to a new CD owner, the nation feels just a little bit larger.

A Flurry of Spec Spots

by | Feb 2, 2021 | , ,

For five years or so, I have been affiliated with a company called Score a Score that provides music for TV commercials and indie film projects. I sporadically send them tracks to add to their catalog. It’s done “on spec,” meaning I don’t get paid unless the track is selected for use by one of their filmmaker or advertising agency clients.
Lately, though, in my downtime, I’ve been writing daily pieces for Score a Score — more than 50 in the past two months — and recording the songs in my home studio. Of necessity, the tracks feature me on every instrument…even, occasionally, drums, which I barely play. I’ve discovered that it’s a great way to start my day. If I feel like a rhumba, I write a rhumba. Or if I feel like a lonesome cowboy, I go with that. Most of these pieces will stay in the Score a Score catalog, untouched and un-monetized, but a few have been chosen for use. There’s a fast food chain in New England that is featuring a piece of mine in their commercials this month. A few bright-blue political candidates used my work in their campaign ads in the fall, which I was happy about. I won’t claim that this is the most artistic thing I do, but it has been a great exercise — and it’s the only way my drum skills will ever earn me a penny.

What to Do With Downtime

by | Jan 2, 2021 | , ,

I think about my mother a lot these days. She was a farm girl from Maine with a very no-nonsense approach to life. Once, when I was just starting out in music, I complained to her that I didn’t have enough work. She thought a bit and responded, “When we had downtime on the farm, we would go out to the shed and sharpen all the tools.”
I know that for a lot of people, especially those with small children, there has been precious little downtime since the pandemic began. Others, though, have had the opposite challenge: not enough work to fill the days. For me, it helps to keep my mom’s story in mind. When there’s no work to do, I practice piano. I practice guitar. I write music that nobody asked for. It doesn’t solve every problem, but it helps keep my creative tools sharp.
Hopefully sometime in 2021, after everyone has been vaccinated, we musicians can emerge, blinking, from our woodsheds and get back to the business of making music together. I wish you strength and health as you sharpen your tools until then.

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